考研 CET6 IELTS TOEFL TEM8 GRE
外刊例句
- What accounts for the changing constituents of each income bracket?
是什么引起了各个收入档次人群的变化？
——《经济学人》 - We have a president who promised that a balanced constituent assembly would work on a constitution that everyone agrees on.
我们这个总统曾经许诺，会让一个各方势力均衡的立宪议会来起草一部每个人都认可的宪法。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[noun] a member of a constituency
[名词] 选区内的选民
深入解读
Constituent 一词源自拉丁语 constituere （使站立、设立、固定、放置、建立、整齐；形成新事物；决心），进入英语时原指“任命或选举代表的人”，现在则主要表示某个选区（constituency）的“选民或选举人”，比如：
- 这位参议员工作努力，总是跟本区选民交谈，听取他们的难处。
The MP worked hard, always talking to his constituents and listening to their problems.
这个含义用作形容词时则表示“任命的、选举的”或“有宪法制定或修改权的、有组阁权的”，比如：
- 任命机构
a constituent body - 立宪会议
a constituent assembly
由于任命或选举代表之后，这些代表们往往会组成一个议事机构，所以 constituent 后来就产生了“组成”这个概念，作名词时表示“成分、构成要素”，强调指某一整体不可缺少的部分或成分，而作形容词时则表示“组成的、构成的”，比如：
- 咖啡因是茶、咖啡之类饮品中的活性成分。
Caffeine is the active constituent of drinks such as tea and coffee. - 把公司按组成部分分割后分别出售的计划
a plan to split the company into its constituent parts and sell them separately
另外值得注意的是， constituent 还在语法中表示“成分、结构成分”，比如：
- 直接成分
an immediate constituent
权威用例
在2016年开始的全国县乡两级人民代表大会换届选举中，登记选民10亿多人，直接选举产生近250万名县乡两级人民代表大会代表。
In the elections of deputies to the people's congresses at county and township levels beginning in 2016, more than 1 billion constituents cast votes for nearly 2.5 million deputies.
同近义词
- voter: a person who votes or has the right to vote at an election
- elector: a person who has the right to vote in an election
- electorate: all the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election
